Device for holding fruit-jars.



E. LEE.

DEVICE FOR HOLDING FRUIT JARS.

nrmouxou FILED MAR. a, 1910.

964,978. Patented July 19, 1910.

I ///V V ELMER LEE, OF BANGOR, PENNSYLVANIA.

DEVICE FOR HOLDING FRUIT-JARS.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented July 19, 1910.

Application filed March 9, 1910. Serial No. 548,182.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Emma LEE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bangor, in the county of Northampton and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Device for Holding Fruit-Jars, of which the following is a specification.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an improved device for holding fruit jars during the filling and sealing operation.

Owing to the fact that the food stuffs to be preserved are introduced into the jar while in a highly heated condition, it has heretofore been necessary to grasp the jar with a cloth which usually is saturated with water prior to use. It is diflicult, however, to hold a against turning, under these conditions, when the top is being applied, and the present invention therefore aims to provide a device in which the jar may be firmly clamped during the filling and sealing operations, and also when it is desired to remove the lid and which may be applied to any ordinary table.

The invention further aims to so construct the device as to adapt it to clamp jars of various sizes.

In the accompanying drawings,-Figure 1 is a perspective view of a jar holding device constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is a sectional view therethrough on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of a number of filling members employed in connection with the device.

In the drawings, the device is illustrated as embodying a frame comprising side members 5 connected in spaced relation by a semi-annular web 6 integral therewith. The said web 6 is located in a plane between the upper and lower ends of the side members 5 and the extremities of the web overlie the forwardly right angularly extending lower ends 6 of the side members 5. Clamping screws 7 are threaded through the angular lower ends 6 of the said members 5 and at their upper ends are provided each with a swiveled bearing head 8. In applying the device to a table or the like, it is disposed thereon with the edge of the table top re ceived between the said projecting ext-remities of the web 6 and the bearing heads 8 after which the clamping screws are tightened. The upper ends of the members 5 are also formed to extend forwardly at right angles, as at 9, and these portions 9 overlie the respective extremities of the web 6.

The jar clamping device proper includes a fixed clamping member and a movable clamping member, and of these two members the fixed member is indicated by the numeral 10, it being semi-cylindrical in form and provided at each end with an ear 11. This fi xed member is disposed between the portions 9 of the side members 5 with its ears 11 resting upon the upper faces of the said portions and securing screws 12 or rivets are engaged through the said ears and into the said portions 9. It will be observed that the concave side of the fixed member 10 is presented inwardly. The movable member is indicated by the numeral 13 and is also semicylindrical in form and is pivoted at one end, as at 14, by means of an ear similar to one of the ears 11 of the member 10 to the forward end of one of' the said portions 9. At its end opposite that end at which the ear 1 1 is formed, the said member 13 is provided or formed with an ear 15 which is, however, not secured to the corresponding portion 9 although it rests thereon and is movable thereover. This said portion 9 extends forwardly to a greater distance than does the other said portion and swiveled upon the same at the forward end thereof is a clamping cam lever, of which the body is indicated by the numeral 16 and the handle by the numeral 17. The edge of the body of the cam engages against the forward edge of the said ear 15 and when the cam is swung around in one direction, the member 13 will be forced into'clamping relation with respect to the member 10, as will be readily understood.

From the foregoing description it will be readily understood that if a large jar is to be filled, it is disposed bodily between the members 10 and 13, after which the cam lever is swung so as to bring the member 13 into clamping relation with respect to the member 10 which will result in the jar being firmly held with its bottom resting upon the surface of the table and its mouth uppermost to permit of it being easily filled. It will be understood that the jaw top or cap may be readily and conveniently applied or removed while the jar is thus securely held by the device and that this application of the top may be accomplished without danger of burning ones hands or cutting due to breaking of the jar. Inasmuch as it is frequently desirable or necessary to fill several sizes of jars in one preserving and canning oper ation, it is expedient that means be pro vided whereby the device may be adapted to clamp ars of various sizes and this means is embodied preferably in a number of sectional bushings, each section of which is semi-cylindrical in its body portion 18 and is provided at the upper end of its said body portion with a semi-annular flange 19, which flange projects from the convex side of the said body. These bushings are preferably made of fiber also with rubber covering on fiber and are so relatively proportioned as to fit one within another when their sections are properly assembled. The employment of a majority of the bushings adapting the device to clamp a small jar and the employment of a minority of the said bushings adapting the device to clamp a large jar. It will be observed that the sections of the several bushings are disposed in a concavity of the members 10 and 13 with their flanges resting either upon the upper edges of the said members or upon the flanges of corresponding enveloping sections. In order to hold the sections of the bushings in proper assembled relation, the sections 10 and 13 are formed with lugs or projections 20 at a point substantially midway between their ends and upon their convex sides and upstanding from each of these lugs is a pin 21 fitting in openings 22 which register in the superposed bushing sections.

What is claimed is 1. In a device of the class described, a fixed clamping member, a clamping member movable into and out of clamping relation with respect to the fixed member, and a bushing removably fitted between the said members, and means whereby the members last mentioned may be moved to clamping position, the said bushing comprising a pair of sections one fitted in each of said clamping members.

2. In a device of the class described, a fixed clamping member, a clamping member movable into and out of clamping relation with respect to the fixed member, means whereby the said member may be so moved, a pin upon each of the said clamping members, and nested bushing sections carried by each of the clamping members and having registering openings receiving the respective pm.

Intestimony that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto atlixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ELMER LEE.

Witnesses J aMns TINNEY, ROBERT P. J ONES, Jr. 

